Revival of the Soul
by Quicksilver19
Summary: Riley Finn goes back to Sunnydale after hearing some shocking news... he's not prepared for what he finds... RileyWillow Fic...


Note: This is totally AU. Let me know what you think!

Riley checked his weapon one more time before moving into position. On the other side of the doorframe, Graham nodded.

Riley moved to the door and kicked it in.

They moved in quietly, checking every room quickly and efficiently. Bodies littered the apartment, both human and demon.

Riley frowned. The victims were normal but the demons had been taken out by a professional. He hadn't seen anything like it… not since –

"Buffy!" Graham breathed.

Riley's head snapped up. Buffy? Here? Then he spotted the slight form of a girl, fighting in the next room. But something was a little off… he moved towards the room.

The girl's leg snapped up, cracking the demon behind the head and cleanly breaking its neck. It toppled to the ground, motionless.

He got to the doorway. "Buffy?"

She spun around, stared at him for a split second then ran for the window. She crashed through then was gone.

Both men stood staring.

"Did you see…?" Graham stuttered.

Riley leaned heavily on the door frame. "Willow…"

₤₤₤

He stared at the phone. He'd been contemplating phoning for the past hour. 'Just do it,' he chided himself. 'Don't be a wimp.' He slowly punched in the numbers, feeling something heavy settle in his chest. The phone rang and his hand tightened on the receiver. Did this mean that Buffy was dead?

"Hello?"

Giles.

"Hello? Anyone there?" He sounded tired.

"Giles… it's Riley…"

Silence.

"Giles? You still there?"

"Y-yes, yes… It's just a bit of a shock, that's all." He could hear Giles almost sighing then returned to his British reserve. "What can I do for you, Riley?"

This was the hard part. "Is Buffy-?" He took a deep breath. Be strong. "Is Buffy dead, Giles?"

Silence.

And then, "No Riley, she isn't dead." His tone became sad with a hint of disappointment. "Buffy ran away from her duties four years ago."

"What?"

Giles finally sighed and Riley pictured him leaning his head in his hand, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, his glasses in his hand. "She decided that she couldn't handle it anymore, Riley. That she wanted a normal life and a family and so she just left. She's gone." His tone became hard. "And she isn't coming back."

Riley was shocked. Buffy was always the strong one. She always knew what she had to do, what she had to sacrifice. He swallowed hard. "And the others?"

"Xander, Willow and myself are the only ones left. The others are dead."

Riley clenched his jaw. Dead? He wanted to throw up. He wanted to cry. He wanted to break something. It wasn't fair. They didn't deserve this. "I'm coming, Giles. I'm coming to clean up the town." He hung up then picked it back up, dialing a number. "I'd like to speak with the man at the desk."

₤₤₤

They moved quietly through the streets, fanning out, taking down hostiles left right and centre. They'd dusted 20 vamps and killed 8 demons so far and there were still hundreds out there… the trackers were going crazy.

Riley stood in front of the Magic Box, preparing himself to go in.

The town had changed – more bars, more reinforcements, more shut away.

He went to the door and pushed it open. A bell tingled and he stepped inside, feeling something magical sweep over him.

Nothing had changed. It looked the exact same as it had five years ago. "Hello?"

"Can I help you?"

He turned. And stared.

Xander Harris wheeled towards him in a wheelchair, a blanket spread over his useless legs.

"Xander?"

Xander stared at him. "Riley Finn. What the hell are you doing here?" He clenched his jaw. "Sorry. Not that you're not welcome. It's just that so many have bailed on us…"

"Including Buffy?" Riley forced out. He still couldn't believe she would do something like that…

"Including Buffy," Xander repeated heavily. He stretched out a hand. "It's good to see you."

Riley shook it. "You too. What happened?"

"Demon. Three years ago. No biggie. I'm over it…"

"Where's everyone else?"

"Dead." Xander smiled at him joylessly. "Most of them anyway. Anya, Tara, Dawn, Spike. Dead. All dead." His eyes were flat, dead themselves.

Riley shifted uncomfortably. "And Willow and Giles?"

He waved his hand behind Riley. "Out there. Somewhere. Fighting the good fight. They'll be back in, oh-" he checked his watch "-two hours or so."

"Where?"

Xander tapped his ear. "Wills? Where are you?" He listened for a moment then turned back to Riley. "The graveyard. And it sounds like she needs help."

"Thanks." He turned to go.

"Hey Riley?"

He looked back from the doorway, hand poised on the handle. "Yeah?"

"It's good to see you."

"Yeah, you too." Then he was gone. "The graveyard," he told his unit. "Everyone to the graveyard." Then he was running.

₤₤₤

He found her first. She was fighting four vamps at once and holding her own using a combination of magic and killer fighting skills. He wanted to yell to her but was afraid that he'd distract her. Instead he helped her. Firing on one of the vamps, he threw himself into the fight.

The last vamps dust was blown away as Willow and Riley stood staring at each other.

She'd changed, he noticed. She looked tougher, stronger, and more mature. She wore her red hair long – about halfway down her back, and her eyes were flat and hard, like a child that had grown up too fast and seen too much too early. She was completely alert, eyes always moving, ears perked up. "Hi Willow." She reminded him of a cat, crouched and ready to pounce. "How late are you patrolling 'til?"

She shrugged and picked up her slayer's bag. "Probably around 3."

"Can I join you?"

Shrug again. "If you like…"

"Okay." He followed her as she stalked through the graveyard, searching. At first it was quiet. As she was searching, he was trying to figure out how to bring it up…

"Willow-"

"Riley-"

They both stopped and looked quickly at each other. Suddenly a vamp jumped out in front of them and they fought it quietly, dusting it quickly, leaving them standing face to face again.

"You first," Willow said finally.

"No, you go ahead."

She started walking again. "When Buffy decided that she didn't want to be a slayer anymore, it was pretty shocking. She decided she wanted a normal life. So when she told us, Giles asked her to give me her powers since she wasn't going to need them. And she did because she doesn't want to remember any of it and have it a part of her life anymore. It was a complicated spell and had to be done at the most dangerous time of the year. That's when we lost half the people." There were tears in her eyes but she brushed them away angrily. "Tara, Dawn, Spike, all three dead before I could wake up and help. And Buffy thought she could still fight so she was put into the hospital trying to save Dawn. And that's when everything went wrong. When she got out, she went to live her life but we still had to take care of her because the demons were still after her. They finally brought up a huge army and threw it at us. That's when Anya died and Xander almost died." The tears were back. "I can still hear the screams. Angel's group came up and most of them died as well. Then Angel took Buffy to Europe. She told me before she left that she wanted her powers back. She was hysterical. She tried to kill me." She stopped and he glanced down at the gravestone.

Dawn Summers:

Too young, too innocent to die.

He reached out to touch her shoulder. "I'm sorry Willow. I should have been there. I could have helped. The army could have helped."

She shrugged it off. "Doesn't matter. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't her fault. I wish she could have had them back."

He studied her as she moved on, picking weeds from the graves of her fallen friends. She was the same old considerate, selfless Willow but he noticed subtle differences: the scars – lancing across her cheekbone, peeking out at the collarbone, across her tricep. She wore, tighter, sleeker clothes but she wasn't slutty, just easier to fight in. Her stance, her movements and her deadly grace showed that she had lost her naivety and childlike essence. "Is she happy now at least?" he asked finally.

She turned to face him, head-on. "She's dead, Riley. She and Angel were attacked on New Years and he couldn't save her."

His vision blurred and he stumbled heavily into a tombstone. "What? But… but Giles said…"

She came towards him quickly, grabbing him before he could fall. He felt the difference in her strength right away. "Riley? Riley? I'm sorry." She helped him sit down on the grass. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just angry. I'm so sorry. Giles doesn't know… I don't think he could handle it so I didn't tell him and I told Angel not to either…"

He swallowed hard. "That's okay." But his voice shook and he blinked rapidly to stop himself from crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

So there it was. She hadn't changed that much after all. She'd just created a tougher exterior for herself so she could survive. "Thanks Willow." His arms tightened around her slight body.

"Let's call it a night, huh?" she said finally. "Anyone stupid enough to be out this time of night deserves what they get."

He stood up. "I'll have my unit patrol tonight. The town will be safe." He called it in and they walked back to the Magic Box in comfortable silence.

₤₤₤

"I can't believe you took on a Kraken by yourself. It took our unit ten men to take one of those down…"

She sipped her coffee. "Yeah, well, we had to work with what we had…"

It was now 4 in the morning and they were sitting in the Magic Box's kitchen. The space above the store had been converted into living quarters for her a Giles with Xander downstairs. They'd come home with the intention to sleep but neither was tired. They'd talked about anything and everything.

"What are you doing now? Still with the army, I see…"

He nodded. "I'm one of their top agents now."

She smiled warmly. "That's amazing, Riley." Her eyes sparkled. "At least someone's moving up in the world." She caught his eye and raised eyebrows. "Sorry." She sounded so regretful that he wanted to kill everyone who had ever let her down.

"I'm the only one left alive from the originals. Me and Graham."

She watched the pain in his eyes, knowing it was a direct reflection of her own then turned and looked away. "We are similar creatures you and I…" Her hand touched down on his, light as a butterfly's touch.

His own turned over, trapping her tiny hand.

Her eyes snapped up to his, holding hers with an unspoken question.

₤₤₤

It was the first time in a long time she'd woken up feeling safe. Having someone's strong arms wrapped protectively around her almost brought her to tears. She twisted to look at his face. His normally angelic and peaceful features were marred by his frown and furrowed brow. She drew her fingers down his cheek and across his jaw line. His face softened into a smile and his arms tightened around her. She wondered who he was thinking about.

Buffy?

"Caught you." His eyes opened slowly and her face grew hot. His lips parted into a smile.

She ducked her head, reminding him of the past, then peered up at him. "Hi."

It made his grin wider. "Hi." She'd changed again, he noticed. Right now she was without shields – like she was the first time he'd met her.

"How did you sleep?" he asked then mentally kicked himself. 'How did you sleep? What kind of a lame question is that, Finn?' he berated himself.

"Fine." She smiled shyly up at him. "And you?"

He smiled back until he felt his face was going to crack. "Fine." He wanted to kiss her. The tension was thick in the air. He wanted to touch her. He brought his hand up slowly and they both watched as it slid up her arm to her face, hovering near her cheek then behind her head to pull her towards him. The moment their lips touched the tension vanished, their shyness vanished as thousands of years of instinct took over.

₤₤₤

Giles came down the stairs feeling more rested than he had in a long time. Knowing that Riley's team was out there, protecting whatever was left of this beaten town, made him rest easy. He just hoped Willow had slept as well.

As he entered the kitchen he noticed Riley and Willow sitting with cups of coffee, very close and talking quietly. Something had changed, he noticed, he could feel it. Their hands touched gently, bumping each other accidentally as they reached for their mugs, their knees brushing under the table and he felt a great sense of renewed hope.


End file.
